Differences between spruce and fir

The spruce (bot. Picea)

The only spruce wood that occurs naturally in Central Europe is that of the Norway spruce (Picea abies). The Picea abies is an evergreen, just growing Conifer. The average growth height is around 50 meters. You can easily tell whether you are dealing with a young or old tree by the bark. If the bark is reddish-brown, you are standing in front of a tree that is still young. An older Picea has a gray and very barked bark. The crown is conical around the trunk. The branches of the spruce grew straight in the upper half, whereas the branches in the lower part are bent towards the earth. The needles are located on the long shoots of the spruce. These are very pointed and can live up to seven years. When the needles eventually fall off, all that remains at this point is the pillow of leaves. This is also the reason why the branches feel rough and bumpy. At the beginning the cones of the spruce are still reddish-green, until they turn brownish over time and hang down. If you find cones in the forest, you can be sure that they are spruce cones, as fir trees only shed part of the cone. The spruce not only provides valuable timber for buildings, but also for furniture construction, structural purposes and for musical instruments.

The fir (bot. Abies)

Around seven of the 40 different types of fir are native to Central Europe. the fir is an upright, evergreen conifer and can reach a height of up to 90 meters. The bark of this tree species is smooth and often gray in color on young plants. With age, the bark becomes increasingly flaky. The needles grow directly on the branch, are flat and rather soft to the touch. Their average age is ten years. The pine cones are only found in the upper part of the fir trees and are always upright on the branches. The spindle of the cones remains on the branch, whereas the scales fall off individually. Fir wood is mainly processed as round wood, sawn timber and veneer wood. It is particularly used in house building for roof structures. Another central importance of wood is in the manufacture of paper and pulp.

The differences at a glance

Spruce	fir
Bot. Surname	Picea	Abies
Height and habit	up to 50 meters, conical	up to 90 meters, cylindrical
Needles	Enclosing branch stabbing angular and pointed continuously green	no needles on the bottom soft wide and flat dark above, light below
bark	thin, flaky bark straight shaft brown to reddish	smooth as a young tree cracked with age gray to white
Cones	hanging on the branch completely sloping brown to red	upright on the branch partially sloping dark brown